Kasabian headline Teenage Cancer Trust Gig with career-spanning set

Kasabian performed for the Teenage Cancer Trust at London’s Royal Albert Hall last night (March 22), as the week of special shows organised by Noel Gallagher nears its conclusion.

The events, which have been curated by the High Flying Birds man, are all aimed at raising money for the charity and have featured sets from Primal Scream, Ryan Adams, Noel Fielding and Russell Brand. This evening (March 23) sees the final installment of the series and will feature Blur members Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon, as well as a headline set from Gallagher himself.

Coming onstage before Kasabian last night, Gallagher was greeted with huge cheers and chants from the sold-out crowd. The former Oasis mainman then introduced the quintet as “the best band to come out of Leicester since Showaddywaddy” before exiting.

Entering to atmospheric rumbles and a smoke-filled stage, Kasabian then powered through a 90-minute set spanning their four album career which kicked off with ‘Days Are Forgotten’ and old favourite ‘Shoot The Runner’.

The band – all clad in black save for guitarist Serge Pizzorno’s psychedelic tracksuit top – were on energetic form throughout, while their rendition of ‘Underdog’ saw the stage peppered with lasers as singer Tom Meighan kept yelling for the crowd to “shake it”. ‘Empire’, meanwhile, was greeted with a full mosh pit as the frontman repeatedly egged the crowd on with shouts of “it’s up to you, not me”.

Elsewhere in the set, the band charged through the likes of ‘Velociraptor!’, ‘Fast Fuse’ and ‘Reason is Treason’, with Pizzorno taking the lead for a run through of ‘Take Aim’ and rarely-played track ‘British Legion’. They then ended the main portion of the set with ‘LSF’, with Pizzorno running up the steps through the audience to huge cheers, before re-entering for a three song encore of ‘Switchblade Smiles’, ‘Vlad the Impaler’ and ‘Fire’.

Speaking after the gig,fans were in high spirits. Mark, 26, from London enthused: “The band were incredible. Best time I’ve seen them, they keep getting better and better”. Helen, 22, from Manchester, meanwhile, told NME that she’d “spent so much money getting down here, but it was completely worth it. ‘Fire’ is such an epic set-closer and the whole gig was amazing”.

NME Merch

This Week's Magazine

Connect With Us

NME Newsletter

Your email address:

By submitting your details, you will also receive emails from Time Inc. UK, publisher of NME and other iconic brands about its goods and services, and those of its carefully selected third parties. Please tick here if you’d prefer not to hear about:

Time Inc.'s goods & services, including all the latest news, great deals and offers